


Where Do We Go From Here?

by Raynne



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 00:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12200370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raynne/pseuds/Raynne
Summary: What happens when your home is destroyed, you don't have anywhere else to go, and you aren't actually qualified to be a Huntsman yet?Sometimes you get a minimum wage job and try to learn a new skill.





	Where Do We Go From Here?

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was supposed to be a fluffy, funny, one shot, but somehow the whole first chapter ended up being angst? *shrug* I dunno, stuff happened. 
> 
> Anyway, if you can slog through the angst, the next chapter is just funny shenanigans with Ren and Nora trying to find a way to eat and keep a roof over their heads after Beacon falls. 
> 
> Set before my other fic with the same general approach to characterization. This was an exercise in overcoming writer's block as well.

Things happened both too slow and too fast after the Fall of Beacon. 

 

Nora Valkerie found herself, without any real clear understanding of how she came to be there, sitting on a cot in a hastily constructed med tent, ribs bandaged tightly (two were dislocated she was told and not much but time would fix them), and a few stitches in her forehead (she really hoped that didn’t scar). Ren was sleeping restlessly in a bunk a few feet away. Yang lay pale and wan on the cot next to Nora, her missing arm heavily bandaged, and Weiss stood in a corner near the opening to the tent talking quietly with Professor Goodwitch. Jaune had been in and out several times, as had members of CVFY, SSSN, and a few visiting students Nora recognized, but she was staring at the door intently hoping for a glimpse of Pyrrha or Ruby.

 

It could have been minutes or hours that had passed, time didn’t seem to have much meaning, when Qrow walked in, Ruby cradled in his arms.

 

“She’s fine,” Qrow waived Goodwitch off, “Well, not  _ fine _ , but she’ll be okay. She’s just unconscious.” He strode to an empty bed on the far side of the room, out of Nora’s earshot, and gently laid Ruby down. He and Goodwitch spoke in low voices and Nora strained to hear, but was unable to make any words out. After a moment, Qrow reached under his cloak, bringing out two items he held out toward Professor Goodwitch. The professor’s hands jumped to her mouth and her voice raised in pitch, but Nora still couldn’t hear what was being said. Qrow murmured something in reply and Goodwitch’s head shook rapidly. Finally Qrow growled a response, shoved one of the items into the other professor’s hands, tucked the other back under his cloak, and strode towards the entrance.

****

“I’ll be back tomorrow, Glynda,” He called, voice huskier than normal. “I’m gonna get Tai - the girls need to go home.”

****

Nora watched Qrow until she couldn’t see him any more, he was too far away and it was dark outside the tent. Turning her eyes back to Goodwitch, she was surprised to see the woman’s face was still in her hands and her shoulders shook. Something round and golden was hanging from her fingers. It looked familiar, but Nora’s mind refused to process it. The small red head fell back on her cot, rolled onto her side and closed her eyes - drifting off to the sound of soft sobs coming from Glynda.

****

***

****

It was shouting that woke her. The tent was light, and she noticed Ren was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. She thought Yang might be awake too, body tense on the bed next to hers, but the blond’s eyes were screwed firmly shut.

****

“I told you nothing good would come of this, James,” a tall, elegant man with snowy hair declared loudly. Ironwood stood in front of him, looking weary to the bone, clothes torn and tattered, shoulders slumped, bags under his eyes. “You always were a fool when it came to Ozpin. You’re just lucky I’m here to bail you out.” 

****

Nora noticed Weiss stood by the man, though slightly behind him. Her head hung down and she looked… defeated. 

****

“Now,” the man continued, “gather up the students from Atlas and whatever soldiers you have left. We’re heading out in two hours. With communications down, who knows when you’ll have another chance to return? I advise you be ready.” The man turned and strode out of the tent. When Weiss didn’t immediately follow, he stopped and snapped his fingers at her. “I would suggest, young lady, that you have caused quite enough trouble by attending this… school. Do not defy me further.”

****

Weiss’s head hung lower, if that was even possible. “Yes, Father.” Nora’s eyes briefly met those of her friend as Weiss glanced back. Raising one hand slightly, Weiss tentatively wiggled her fingers. Then she was gone, following her father and Ironwood out the door. Nora sighed and closed her eyes again as she laid back. Sleep seemed preferable to being awake right now.

****

***

****

The next time Nora opened her eyes again, albeit reluctantly, Jaune was sitting on a stool by her bedside. The tent was emptier, she noticed none of the Atlas students or teachers still seemed to be present. 

****

“Hey there,” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They were blood-shot and puffy. Nora idly wondered when the last time he slept was. “How are you feeling?”

****

“Tired. My ribs hurt. I think I should stop jumping in front of things that want to hit me.” Nora tried to joke, wasn’t sure if it was actually funny or not. “Do we have any water?”

****

Jaune reached over to a small table near the bed and picked up a glass and pitcher. He filled the glass and handed it to Nora. He paused briefly then turned back and picked up a wrapped straw. Carefully peeling off the wrapper, he popped it into the glass Nora was holding. “There you go, drink up.”

****

“Thanks.” Nora sipped her water and looked around. Ren appeared to be asleep again. Yang was sitting up on her bunk, her back to Nora, legs dangling over the side. Her good hand was buried in her hair, seemingly tugging at it. Her other arm was buried under a blanket that was thrown over her shoulder. Oobleck, Port, and Goodwitch stood at the far side of the tent, as distant as possible from an occupied bed, speaking in soft voices, faces solemn. 

****

Taking a deep breath, Nora turned back to Jaune. “Did… did they ever find what happened to Pyrrha?”

****

Jaune opened his mouth to reply, but only a low keening came out. As her friend fell forward against her, she wrapped her arms around him and tucked his head under her chin. She wasn’t sure if the moisture soaking her shirt came from his eyes or hers. Probably both.

****

***

****

Waking up didn’t seem to get easier. Fitting two people into a cot meant for one hadn’t been easy either. Jaune was asleep, his face buried against Nora’s chest, arms tight around her waist (she resolutely ignored the increased ache in her ribs), breath still occasionally hitching. Nora idly ran her fingers through his hair in a soothing gesture as she tried to figure out what had woken her up this time. Soft voices drifted over to her and after a moment she was able to identify them as belonging to Sun and Yang. Tucking her chin over Jaune’s shoulder, Nora managed to catch a glimpse of the two. Yang was sitting on her bed again, Sun crouching in front of her, his face barely visible past Yang’s figure.

****

“I can’t believe she ran away again,” Yang’s voice was low, but angry. “She  _ promised _ she’d stop doing that, Sun!”

****

“I know, Yang. I know,” Sun’s voice was soothing. “Look, I’m going to go after her. I’m good at stowing away on ships. I’ll make sure she stays safe. And I’ll bring her home. I promise. No matter how long it takes.”

****

Yang didn’t answer and Nora could see her shoulders were in a stiff line. Sun stood and stretched his arms above his head, then gently brought one hand down to rest on Yang’s head while letting the other fall to his side. Yang reached up with her good hand, hesitated for a moment, then clasped Sun’s hand with her own.

****

“I promise I’ll take care of her,” Sun whispered. Then he turned and quickly walked away. 

****

“I know you’ll take care of her,” Yang spoke so softly Nora almost missed it. “But, I needed her to take care of me.”

****

Nora sighed quietly and closed her eyes. She wished she knew how to help, but for once in her life, she was all out of ideas.

****

***

****

Voices woke Nora again. Squeezing her eyes tightly closed, she vaguely wondered why they couldn’t manage to make a tent intended for the recovery of the injured a little quieter. Sleeping without interruption would surely help her at least recover. Though, she had to admit she wasn’t really sure how much rest she had gotten exactly and she did finally feel a bit more clear-headed. The last few times she had been awake had felt slightly dream-like and she knew she was going to have to do some sorting through the memories to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. Briefly she hoped most of it was just a dream, though the bandages on her ribs and the ache above her right eye told her that was unlikely. She noticed Jaune had left at some point. Eyes still closed, she stretched some of the kinks out, then reluctantly blinked a few times to clear her vision.

****

Yang’s bunk was empty. Sitting up quickly, Nora looked around until she spotted her friend standing a few feet away from the bed where Ruby still lay unconscious. Qrow had joined her as a man she recognized as Taiyang from his visits to the school to see his daughters. Professor Goodwitch was with them, her face even more haggard than before.

****

“They’re  _ my kids _ , Glynda,” Tai was saying somewhat heatedly. “The doctor said moving Ruby won’t do her any harm. Any  _ more  _ harm. It’ll be better for her to wake up at home than here,” his gesture encompassed the med tent. “I  _ trusted  _ you and Oz to protect them. And look what happened!” By the end, Tai’s voice had raised in a shout, rousing several of the remaining patients. “I’m not leaving them here a minute longer than I have to. We’re going home where I can protect them. I told you I didn’t want any part of Oz’s plans. I already lost Summer, wasn’t that enough? How much more do you want from me? We’re not just pawns! My girls are not pawns!”

****

“Tai…,” Glynda extended her hand in a placating gesture, but the blond man batted it away.

****

“No. Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it.” Tai took a deep breath, visibly calming himself. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, but no less intense. “I’m sorry for what happened, Glynda, I really am. But I have more important things to worry about.” He placed one arm gently around Yang’s shoulders, and Yang leaned against him, head resting on his shoulder. “We’re going home.”

****

Yang pulled away from her father and the two exchanged a long look. Tai finally nodded and Yang turned and walked back towards Nora. Neither girl spoke until Yang took a seat beside Nora.

****

“Hey, Lightning Bolt,” Yang’s voice was soft, more subdued than Nora had ever heard it. 

****

“Hey, Fireball.”

****

“Sounds like we’re going home to Patch. You and Ren gonna be okay?” 

****

“Yeah. We’ll be fine. We’ve got each other. We’ll figure it out.”

****

Yang huffed something that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a sob, “I’m glad. I wish…,” her voice trailed off. Nora reached over and grabbed her hand. She didn’t have any words, holding on was the only thing she could think of to do. The two girls sat side by side, hands clasped for a long moment before Yang squared her shoulders, let go, and rose to her feet. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

****

“Yeah… see you around.”

****

Nora watched Yang as she walked back to her family. Watched as Qrow gathered up Ruby and Tai wrapped an arm back around Yang and guided her out of the tent. Watched long after they all went away.

****

Finally she looked away and for the first time since she first entered the tent met Ren’s eyes, the pain she was feeling mirrored in his gaze. After a moment of silent communication, Ren nodded. Nora hopped to her feet, walked the short distance to his bunk and waited for him to rise. Together, they approached Glynda, pausing behind her until she turned and noticed them.

****

“Miss Valkerie? Ren? What do you need?” Professor Goodwitch’s tone was strained, though she tried hard to hide it. Nora could only imagine how hard the last few hours? days? had been for her.

****

“Ren and I are feeling better!” Nora tried for some semblance of her normal tone, found it fell flat, but kept trying. “So, how can we help?”

****

***

****

“I’m leaving for a while.” Nora looked up from the bed she was making at Jaune’s voice.

****

“Leaving? Why? Where?” Her voice was full of confusion. Unlike she and Ren who had barely left the med tent and surrounding camp - first assisting as they could with injuries, and then helping with cooking and cleaning and comforting the students who were visiting for the Vytal Festival and now found themselves stranded far from home, Jaune had been assisting with cleanup efforts in the city. He came back each night to eat and sleep, but he hardly spoke. Nora had gotten the little information they had about Pyrrha from Glynda as Jaune couldn’t talk about it. Even then, it seemed clear that until Ruby woke up they wouldn’t really know exactly what had transpired. 

****

“I’m not sure,” Jaune replied. His voice held none of it’s old cheerfulness. It reminded her a little of how Jaune had sounded when Cardin was bullying him, but worse. He sounded cold. He sounded lost. He sounded empty. “Maybe to visit my family, let them know I’m okay since messages aren’t always going through. Maybe I’ll try to make it to visit Pyrrha’s parents. I don’t know. I just… need to get away for a while.”

****

“Do you want Ren and I to come with you? I’m pretty sure they don’t really need us here.”

****

“No. I just… I really want to be alone right now. I’m sorry.” Jaune pulled Nora into a quick hug. She watched him walk to Ren and exchange a few words before pulling the other boy into an embrace. Jaune raised a hand to wave and then quickly left the tent.

****

Nora knuckled a few tears out of her eye angrily. She was getting so tired of watching her friends walk away.

****

***

****

It had been two weeks since Beacon fell. The med tent was finally empty of patients. Everyone who could be helped had been. Students had returned home or been sent on to a hospital if triage couldn’t help them. For a while towards the end, the tent had housed more students waiting to go home than it had patients. But Nora had seen the last few students from Menagerie onto a ship earlier that day and once they finished cleaning and breaking down the last few of the bunks, crews would be by to disassemble the tent. Nora paused in her sweeping and leaned on her broom. Ren kept up with his own work for a bit longer, but stopped when he noticed Nora watching.

****

“Already finished?” Ren asked.

****

“Not quite,” Nora admitted. “I’ve been thinking - what do we do now? Everyone’s gone home and they’re breaking down the tent tonight. We don’t have anywhere to go. I mean, I’m not super worried, I know we can just camp in the woods if we have to, but… I’d rather not?”

****

Ren chuckled. “It seems this problem comes up for us more often than other people, doesn’t it?”

****

“It really does. Maybe we should start a service or something. ‘Need a town overrun by Grimm? Need to attract a major disaster? Just call Nora and Ren - guaranteed results or your money back!’” 

****

“Go team Flour Power, yay!” Ren remarked dryly, throwing both arms in the air in a mockery of enthusiasm. Nora caught his eye and for a moment they just looked at each other before bursting into laughter. It felt good, the way few things had in the last few weeks. It probably wasn’t that funny, but just laughing with Ren reminded her that life always went on and things generally got better. Every time they started to calm down, one would mutter, “Flour Power” and the other would throw their arms up and the laughter started again. Finally, when Nora’s abdomen ached (those ribs would feel better eventually, right?) and mirth induced tears were streaming down her face, they finally managed to stop.

****

“Seriously though, what do we do now?” Nora asked.

****

“I think,” Ren said, face serious. “There’s only one thing we can do. We’re going to have to get jobs.”


End file.
